1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic equipment with a cover wherein the cover is attached to the electronic equipment, and when the cover is closed, a display and a solar cell face each other.
2. Related Background Art
An electronic calculator is known as an example of a conventional electronic equipment with a cover. A cover attached to an electronic calculator of this type merely covers an operation panel of an equipment body 1 when the equipment is not operated, as indicated by a broken line 5 in FIG. 3A. FIG. 3A is a side view of the electronic calculator. A keyboard portion 2, a display portion 3 such as a liquid crystal display, and a power source portion 4 such as a solar cell are arranged on the upper surface side of the drawing.
Generally, the keyboard portion 2 requires a predetermined stroke upon depression of the keys, and the equipment requires a large thickness D so as to incorporate electronic parts such as an LSI (large-Scale Integrated circuit). On the other hand, the display portion 3 such as the liquid crystal display and the power source portion 4 such as the solar cell can be thinner compared with the keyboard portion 2. Therefore, a thickness d of these portions can be substantially half or less the thickness D (i.e., D.gtoreq.2d).
However, the operation of the equipment is performed on the upper surface side of FIG. 3A. Therefore, if the keyboard portion 2, the display portion 3, and the power source portion 4 are arranged on the upper surface of the equipment body 1, an idle space 1a is formed below the power source portion 4, and a length L of equipment body 1 is increased, resulting in large equipment. More specifically, the arrangement shown in FIG. 3A can provide good operability but has a poor space factor, resulting in large equipment. FIG. 3B is a side view of electronic equipment free from the above problem. The power source portion 4 is arranged below (rear surface side) of the display portion 3 to eliminate the idle space 1a shown in FIG. 3A, and a length l (&lt;L) is decreased to render the equipment compact. If the power source portion 4 comprises a thin chemical cell, the arrangement of FIG. 3B poses no problem. However, if the power source portion 4 employs a solar cell, since light is radiated downward from the upper side of the drawing, the solar cell cannot be used if it is arranged below the display portion 3. More specifically, the arrangement shown in FIG. 3B can have a high space factor and can render the equipment compact. However, this arrangement cannot allow use of the solar cell, thus preventing an energy-saving design.